The Sadies and John Doe Collaborate On Country Covers Record

Canada's very own cosmic country twang masters the Sadies have announced they're pairing up with X punker John Doe for the band's next full-length. Via Yep Roc, the collaborators are to release Country Club, an album that finds the Sadies and Doe taking on several classic country tunes, as well as a few originals.

And just how do a few of good ol' boys from Toronto end working with such a storied punk? "Country Club is the result of a drunken promise or threat I made to Travis and Dallas [Good, of the Sadies] the first night we played together in Toronto," Doe explains in an online statement. "These happen all the time but it's rare that anyone remembers them the morning after, let alone follows through and makes it a reality. I'm really glad we did."

As for the album's covers, Country Club includes several reworks of songs by the likes of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, with the Sadies and Doe enlisting a few guest stars to help put a slightly psychedelic slant on several of the tracks, the press release says. Among the contributors is one-time Exclaim! cover star Kathleen Edwards, as well as Blue Rodeo man Bob Egan and several other members of the Good family. Also, X's Exene Cervenka helped write one of the record's four original tunes alongside Doe, with the Sadies taking care of the other three.

In regards to the album's sound, Doe says to expect a retro-styled blend of '60s Nashville pop and Bakersfield honky tonk, adding: "We're not sure why it sounds like it's from the '60s. Maybe that's our favourite era of country music or maybe that's what we listened to when we first learned how to play it. But what was called 'Countrypolitan' always seemed one of the coolest hybrids of country music. But we agreed quickly and completely that there were going to be no string sections, horns or choirs."

There is no word if the Sadies and Doe will tour Country Club, but the album is due out April 14. Here is the tracklisting and credits: